Mr Ford told the billionaire he was "a bit surprised" that Mr Trump had seemed unsure that the dunes were designated as SSSI when he bought the land.

The tycoon said: "I know every inch of the site, I know the site, for example, far better than you do. Details come later, you don't say, 'let me spend a couple of years studying it' - it doesn't work that way."

'Popular project'

Mr Ford later said: "Are you aware of the thousands of objections? It is not just me."

Mr Trump replied: "I see polls showing 93% in favour. You can say what you want, but this is a very popular project and you probably know that better than anyone."

Speaking at a press conference after the hearing, Mr Trump said the questions from his opponents "weren't very good" and added that he had "really enjoyed" the experience.

He said: "The questions were fair, the answers were 100%, everyone's saying we really knocked it out of the box.

"I listened to the questions from the few opponents we had, and honestly, the questions weren't very good."

In March this year, a parliament committee said First Minister Alex Salmond took a "cavalier" approach to his involvement with the plans.

Holyrood's local government committee raised concern that a government decision to call in the plans came after "two five-minute phone calls".

But, following an inquiry, it said the unprecedented decision was "competent".

The Scottish Government said the probe had found ministers and officials had acted within planning law.

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